| Organization |
Author |
Title |
Abstract |
| ARTICLES |
|
|
|
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South African Labour Bulletin
|
Webster, E. Gelb, S. |
'Jobs and equity:
the social democratic challenge'
(vol 20 no 3)
|
|
|
|
Vlok, E
|
Defining
unemployment
(vol 22 no 5 )
|
|
|
|
Naledi
|
Focus: Job
creation (vol 22 no 2) |
|
|
|
Vlok, E.
|
Jobs and houses:
The job summit
(vol 22 no 6)
|
|
|
|
NPI column
|
Productivity and
employment
(vol 22 no 3)
|
|
|
Innes Labour Brief
|
Innes, D. |
Job creation:
Tackling Unemployment
(1998; Vol 19 no. 4)
|
|
|
Centre for Dev. and enterprise
|
Nattrass, N. |
Growth,
employment and economic policy in South Africa: A critical Review
(1998) |
'The paper starts off
with an overview of the roots of South Africa's job crisis, and the
growing importance of unemployment in shaping inequality. Part 2 of
the paper provides evidence that increased exposure to
international competition is already undermining those sections of
manufacturing using ultra-labour-intensive processes. Part 3
provides a critical evaluation of South Africa's wage-setting
institutions, and Part 4 discusses South Africa's overall
macroeconomic strategy and potential conflicts between it and
labour market policies.' |
|
Fafo
|
|
Wages and Bargaining in the Metal and Engineering
Sector.
|
Two reports were compiled
for the Metal and Engineering Bargaining Council in South Africa.
The first focussed on international bargaining models, and the
second on characteristics of the South African metal and
engineering labour market (wages, employment etc.). These reports
were presented as input and starting point for their bargaining in
1999. |
| Sociology of Work Unit
(SWOP) |
Webster, E. Kenny,
B. |
Eroding the core:
Flexibility and the resegmentation of the South African market
(1999) |
This paper provides
evidence for the growth of flexiwork in the retail and mining
sectors of the economy. It shows how this growing category of
workers is eroding the hard-won rights of core unionised workers.
Side by side with the growth of flexiwork is a rapidly burgeoning
reserve army of unemployed workers. This process of re-segmentation
of the labour market is evoking insecurity among permanent workers,
even when actual retrenchments do not happen. The threat of job
loss or casualisation is creating insecurity and fear among core
workers while at the same time providing employers with cheaper and
more compliant workforce. For South Africa, this trend threatens to
introduce a labour regime that charectarised apartheid before the
growth of the democratic labour movement.' |
|
DPRU
|
Bhorat, H. Hodge, J |
The impact of
structural and production method changes on employment growth of
occupational groupings in South Africa. (1998) |
'The purpose of the paper
is to analyse the impact on structural and production method
changes on the employment of different occupational groups in South
Africa and then extrapolate these findings to derive the impact on
socio-economic groups. Effectively this involves mapping output
changes to employment changes, broken down by occupation, and then
employment changes to socio-economic groups, broken down by race
and gender. The paper is organized into two parts- an historical
overview of changes that have occurred and their impact, and a
forecast of expected changes to come and their policy
implications.' |
|
|
Bhorat, H. Leibbrandt,M
in Baskin, J. (ed.)
|
Understanding
unemployment (1996)
Against the current: labour and economic policy in South
Africa.
|
'This chapter has two
purposes. First, it sketches the nature and extent of South
Africa's unemployment and examines a range of variables that are
important in predicting unemployment. Second, it details the
support provided to the unemployed through income earned by other
members of their households' |
|
University of Cape Town
|
Nattrass, N. |
' Globalization
and South African labour market' (1998)
Studies in Economics and Econo-metrics
(vol 22, 3)
|
' The impact of
international trade on employment in high- and medium-income
economies is mediated by labour market institutions: downward
pressure on unskilled unemployment in highly regulated labour
markets; and in a widening of the wage distribution in less
regulated labour markets. This paper argues that trade
liberalisation in South Africa will result in continued job losses
in ultra-labour intensive sectors if labour market regulation
remains unchanged.' |
| Research
Projects |
|
|
|
|
ILO
|
ILO |
Restructuring the
labour market: Country review of South Africa (1996) |
' This Review is mainly
concerned with identifying the labour market problems that need to
be overcome if the macroeconomic strategy is to translate into
successful labour market outcomes. The problems are summarized as
poverty, inequality, unemployment, and dynamic efficiency.' |
|
World Bank
|
World Bank
|
South African
labour market and inequalities (1998) |
'The study focuses on labor market behavior in the light of
disappointing employment growth and considerable wage inequality.
Its main empirical conclusions are: i) that rising unemployment can
only be partly explained by rising wages; ii) labor markets for
skilled workers operate much better than for the unskilled; and
iii) wage differentials associated with non-economic
characteristics are large by international standards. The study
reviews and broadly supportive of recent labor legislation. It
argues, however that, a broad policy framework that goes far beyond
labor market interventions is needed to improve employment growth
and reduce inequality.'
|
|
National Institute for Economic Policy (NIEP)
|
Aldelzadeh, A. Alvillar,
C. Mather, C. |
Poverty
elimination, employment creation and sustainable livelihood in
South Africa.(1998) |
'The aim of this project is to provide a situation of employment
creation and sustainable livelihood in South Africa as a
pre-requisite for formulating a strategic programme for poverty
eradication and full employment in South Africa. To achieve our
objective, the major characteristics of poverty and factors which
contribute to sustainable livelihoods in South Africa have been
analysed. Particular focus on who the poor and unemployed are,
where they are located, and how they sustain themselves is given in
the analysis. Our underlying premise is that policies towards
sustainable
livelihoods must be built on thorough understanding of existing
poverty and livelihoods.'
|
| Naledi /Fafo
|
|
Bargaining and wages in South Africa.
|
This is a joint project focuses on
wage levels and bargaining systems in South Africa. We look at wage
determinations (Wage Board) as well as provincial and national
Bargaining Councils in order to see to what extent, and how,
workers and the trade union movement gain through the various
models of wage setting. The analysis are based on October Household
Statistics (Statistics South Africa) 1995 - 97. A draft report is
ready for publication.
|
|
University of Cape Town
|
Thebus, C. J. |
An examination of
unemployment in South Africa's first democratic elections
(1996) |
|
|
|
Jan Theron
|
Terms of
employment (1998) |
|
|
|
Meth, C.
|
' Productivity,
growth and job loss: A temporary inconvenience?'
(1997)
|
|
|
|
Nattrass, N. Seekings, J.
|
The challenge of
unemployment and inequality in South Africa (1996) |
|
|
University of Pretoria
|
Carel van Aardt.
|
The impact of
population dynamics in South Africa on the labour market
(1999) |
|
|
|
Verwoed, M. W.
|
The estimation of
a South African labour market model (1997) |
|
|
|
Kibuuka, P. K.
|
The relationship
between the supply and demand of technical skills in the South
African labour market (1999) |
|
|
HSRC
|
Makhetha, D. T. |
South African
market trends and future workforce needs
(1997)
|
|
|
|
Hall, E. J.
|
South African
labour market trends and future workforce needs
(1999) |
|
|
University of Port Elizabeth
|
Pakes, T. K. |
Wages, survival
strategies and black urban unemployment: a local labour market
analysis (1995) |
|
|
UNISA
|
Uys, M. D. |
Dualistic labour
market (1996) |
|
|
University of Natal
|
Hofmeyer, J. F. |
Segmentation and
employment creation in the South African labour market
(1998) |
' The project estimates
the degree of segmentation in South African labour market in order
to shed light on the country's unemployment problem. The core of
the project is an econometric estimation of various wage
differentials in the economy, specially between the formal and the
informal sector, as well as between unionised and non-unionised
labour. In principle, if there are no barriers to movement between
the different parts of the labour market, then the wages of similar
levels should equalise as the forces of competition work themselves
out. However, if there are barriers, wages will not equalise and
the market is said to be segmented. One indicator of barriers to
entry into the formal sector would be the existence of a wage gap
between unionised and non-unionised workers should give an
indication of the barriers of entry into the unionised sector. The
standard approach to explaining wage levels is to estimate a wage
levels is to estimate a wage equation which explains the logarithm
of wages in terms of the relevant human-capital and job
characteristics. The details of econometrics methods used are
discussed in depth.' |
|
University of Durban Westville
|
Padayachee
V. Zarenda, H.
|
Macroeconomic and
labour market policies for employment and generation in South
Africa (1995) |
|
|
WITS University
|
Sunders, S.G. |
Has labour priced
itself out of the market and should wages be cut to 'price workers
back into jobs'? A critical analysis (1997) |
'It will hopefully be
shown in this essay that if we move away from the orthodox
neo-classical assumptions it will be possible to arrive at very
different conclusions than those proposed under neo-classical
theory. Each theory (i.e. neo-classical, keynesian, and kaleckian)
is put forward.' |
|
DPRU
|
Bhorat, H. |
" Inequality in
South African labour market" (1996) |
|
|
|
Bhorat, H. Leibbrandt, M.
|
Poverty amongst
the self-employed (1998)
Studies in Economics and Econometrics
(22, 3)
|
' Conventional wisdom
suggest that the self-employed in the South African labour market
are involved in survivalist activities with very low returns. This
paper analyses this assumption of widespread poverty amongst the
self-employed and its determinants are examined. To end, four
models are presented that estimate the impact of these variables on
the earnings from self-employment. The four models are standard
log-linear function, the logit and probit likelihood functions, and
a log-linear function that separates the sample ex ante into those
below and those above the poverty line. Each model, from the
standard earnings function, to the logits and probits shows that
numerous covariates such as education, age, race, gender and
location are important predictors of self-employment earnings.
While the results differ between models, the differences in
themselves suggest certain common characteristics of the
self-employed, and also provide a point of departure for relevant
policy intervention.' |
|
|
Bhorat, H. and Hodge, J.
|
The impact of
structural and production method changes on employment of
occupational groups in South Africa (1998) |
|
|
|
Bhorat, H.
|
Decomposing
sectoral employment trends in South Africa (1999) |
|
|
National Institute for Economic Policy (NIEP)
|
Ha-joon Chang |
Technological
progress, human resource development and employment creation - The
South African context (1998) |
'The report looks at the
relationship between technological progress on the one hand, and
human resource development and employment creation. It aims to
identify policies the DTI can implement to ensure that
technological progress gets translated into increased jobs.' |
|
University of Pretoria
|
Stimie, J. E. |
The descriptive
study of the nature and extent of labour market flexibility within
the clothing merchandise sector (1998) |
|
|
FAFO
|
|
Southern African labour markets
|
Out of a population of
about 180 million people in SADC, less than 1 out of 10 is employed
in the formal sector. The rest are unemployed or struggle to find a
means of survival in the informal sector or in subsistence farming.
To have a job or not, has become a "to be, or not to be" in these
countries with few, or no, safety nets. At the same time, a large
portion of those within the formal labour market earn less than
poverty wages. Child labour, HIV, labour migration, low skills
levels, tenant labour systems, and poverty pose further political
and economic challenges. Fafo has published a report focusing on
labour markets in southern Africa as a critical arena for
development. |
| Current
projects |
|
|
|
|
Sociology of Work Unit (SWOP)
|
Webster E, Kenny B,
Bezuidenhout A. |
Work and welfare:
the changing nature of work, employment relations and social
support. |
' This project focuses on
the changing nature of work and its impact on the household.
Research has began on the nature and impact of casualisation in the
retail and subcontracting in the mining sectors. The project is now
in its second phase where life history interviews of retail sector
workers are being conducted to gain insight into the impact of
nonstandard labour on workers' reproductive strategies within
households.' |
| HSRC |
Erasmus, J. C. |
Unemployed's
participation in the labour market (1999) |
|
|
University of Western Cape
|
Lundall, P. A. |
Higher education
and graduate employment: a tracer study of labour market
participation of graduates from the University of the Western Cape.
(1998) |
|
|
EAGER
|
Styker, D.
Cassim, F.
Rajaratram, B.
|
Increasing demand
for labor in South Africa (2000) |
'Despite policy changes,
significant segmentation remains in the South African labor market.
Removing barriers to labor market integration is an essential way
of achieving growth in employment. By removing policy-induced
economic distortions, South Africa can increase both economic
growth and demand for labor.' |
|
University of Cape Town
|
Shane Godfrey
Theron, J.
|
Labour standards
versus job creation?
(1999)
|
|
| Fafo
|
|
The Textile, Clothing and Leather sector in Southern
Africa
|
This project looks at
employment trends, social security, wages and industrial relations
in the textile, clothing and leather sector in southern Africa and
looks at challenges for the labour movement. The project is
conducted for the regional textile and clothing unions and the
General Workers Union in Denmark. |
| University of Durban
Westville |
Mbele, T. T. |
South African
formal economy's absorption capacity and the role of the
macroeconomic strategy in the country's labour market performance
(1998) |
|
|
Fafo
|
|
The Service Sector in Southern Africa.
|
This project looks at employment
trends, social security etc. in the service sector in southern
Africa and looks at challenges for the labour movement. The project
is conducted for FIET.
|
|
Department of Finance
|
Fields, G.
Leibrandt, M.
Wakeford, J.
|
Key labour market
elasticities. (1999) |
|
|
|
Fedderke, J.
|
Impact of trade
liberalisation on South African labour markets. (1999)
|
|
|
|
Golub, S.
|
Unit cost based
competitiveness. (1999) |
|
|
Department of Labour
|
C. Alvillar
|
Mesebetsi Labour
Force Survey in South Africa |
DoL together with Fafo is
in the process of finalising a major labour force survey in South
Africa. It looks at employment, remuneration, working conditions,
training and skills, employment equity, and attitudes to work as
well as to the social parties, through a national random sample of
10 000 household interviews. The report will be finalised in the
first part of 2000. |